Title: Dandelion
Pairing: Tezuka/Fuji
Rating: G
Word count: 1525.
Disclaimer: The owners of PoT own PoT
For: evaporate who issued the challenge for me to write: ZukaFuji 1. Not boring, 2. PG or under, 3. No UST, lewd references, perving, etc., 4. Established relationship, 5. More than a drabble, 6. No angst, 7. Happy ending, or at least not a depressing one. NO DYING, 8. Minimal blatant character introspection!
AN: I think a few people will be happy with rule number seven. winks at vierblith I'm sorry I don't have time to write you something new, but I've never posted about 95 percent of my tezuka/fuji fics here.
Fuji opened his eyes and looked over at the clock. It was three in the morning, but he knew that there wasn't any point in trying to go back to sleep. He quietly got out of bed, careful not to wake Tezuka, and walked listlessly to the kitchen.
It wasn't until he had already downed two cups of coffee twenty minutes later that he felt truly awake. He walked to the hall closet to pull out the luggage. Fuji'd learned through experience never to pack in advance because plans were likely to change at a moment's notice. He didn't mind that so much, except for the fact that the moment itself was usually about five minutes after he'd zipped up the suitcases.
He could expect to be alone for a good portion of this trip, so Fuji decided to take his work with him. He always found it distinctly amusing that on these trips, which were for Tezuka's job, he was to leave his work at home lest he be gifted with a stern, disapproving glare for at least twenty minutes before either he caved or Tezuka looked away.
Smiling at the thought of Tezuka's displeased expression, Fuji put back a portion of the work he could bring. Twenty pages of translation should keep him from getting too behind in his work, but not so much that he'd spend the whole time in the hotel room ignoring the fact that other humans existed.
After five minutes of internal debate, Fuji dragged out another small bag out of the closet and proceeded to pack seven books he'd been meaning to read, and three books that he'd reread when he'd finished the others. He also packed the stationary he used to write Yuuta, making note that he'd have to purchase so more shortly.
Looking up at the clock, he noticed that it was ten minutes to four. He walked back to the kitchen and put a kettle of water on for Tezuka. He sat down at the table while he waited and quickly read through the tentative schedule. Perhaps, if they planned things well, they could sneak down to the Taj Mahal Tandoori restaurant that made those curries that he'd enjoyed on their last trip.
He set down the papers and walked back to the stove, and finished preparing the tea. He brought it into their bedroom and placed it on the side-table before he went back to packing. Tezuka woke just as the tea cooled to the point that he could drink it.
"Thank you," Tezuka murmured as he slowly got out of bed. Fuji smiled at him as he finished zipping his suitcase.
Looking over at Tezuka, Fuji nodded to his readied luggage. "I'm finished so I'll take my shower now."
Nodding, Tezuka took another sip of his tea before placing his own suitcase on the mattress.
When he was finished, he'd met Tezuka at the door. He stepped aside, letting Tezuka pass, and went back into their bedroom. He put on the black dress pants that he hated, the light green shirt that he liked, and opted to not wear a tie. Looking over, he noticed that all of their suitcases and bags were zipped up and waiting on the bed.
Fuji sighed as he sat down on the mattress. The packing was finished. Tezuka was in the shower and they'd be at the airport in little over three hours. They were going to England this time and were staying for a week at least.
It irked him that it seemed like being home was a vacation and every trip away was more exhausting than the last. He never used to go on these trips with Tezuka. He was perfectly content to stay at home and complete little do-it-yourself projects without any interference. Tezuka, however, didn't appreciate the time and effort that went into his redecorating.
It wasn't until after he placed sandy yellow curtains with cartoon cacti on them in the bedroom that Tezuka insisted that he join him on his next trip required by his sponsors. Fuji didn't think that the curtains were so bad to cause such a disturbance. He simply wanted something that matched the stenciling he'd done on their bedroom walls, and the curtains had matched perfectly.
When Tezuka retired from professional tennis, he expected these sorts of occurrences to die out. What Fuji didn't realise was that the only difference between being a professional tennis player and a retired professional tennis player was that they played less and got paid more.
As he heard the water being turned off, he decided to give everything one last look before they left. Fuji double checked Tezuka's bags and noticed immediately that he'd forgotten both his favourite tie and his brown dress shoes. This had always been an issue, sometimes an expensive one. Tezuka would remember, without fail, no matter where he was going and what the trip was for, to pack four tennis racquets, three rolls of grip tape, in two varieties, two pairs of sneakers, four wrist bands, and at least three tubes of balls.
However, he'd forget important things like packing enough socks, or his toothbrush and razor. Fuji had once thought Tezuka was fastidious about everything. He was quickly disabused of that within weeks of cohabitation. Tezuka, in actuality, was just tennis-obsessed plain and simple.
With only a few last minute things to do before they left, Fuji got to his feet and waited for Tezuka to finish.
"Ready?" Tezuka asked as he came back into the room. If they wanted to not deal with too much traffic, they had to go soon.
Fuji grinned at him as he finished watering the last of his cacti. "Yes. I think that's everything."
Even though they'd left over an hour early, they ended up just barely making it through the boarding process on time. Fuji silently cursed each and every person that made driving more of a headache than it already was. He preferred walking or biking.
He and Tezuka made a point to get away from all forms of technology for at least two weeks a year. They only had to wait another eleven weeks before they could go on their annual camping and fishing holiday.
The last agent that had asked for a way to reach them in case of an emergency was told to send it by carrier pigeon . He didn't look too overly amused by the suggestion, and Fuji simply smiled widely as his irritation increased.
Only Oishi and Yuuta were aware of the exact location. Oishi still treated Tezuka with reverence and Yuuta had known him for far too long to do anything that would truly anger him.
Once seated on the plane, he busied himself with two dictionaries and the text he was translating while Tezuka watched his upcoming opponent on a handheld dvd player. It amused Fuji that Tezuka took charity events as seriously as he did any match he'd played professionally. Tezuka had yet to lose to anyone since retiring, ironically enough, and that was likely why he was still in such high demand.
He frowned as he looked at his work. Although he loved his job, he believed that he would never be able to fully convey the beauty of Japanese in any of the Latin based languages. Far too few people ever appreciated the subtly of it, and other languages bordered on annoyingly verbose.
Just as he was finished with his third page of text, notes scribbled hastily into the margins, Tezuka turned off his player and turned to Fuji.
"There have been some last minute changes to our schedule this week. Would you like to see it?" Tezuka asked as he pulled out a crisp piece of paper out of his briefcase.
Looking over at Tezuka, Fuji smiled. He was up to something and Fuji hadn't even noticed.
"Of course, Tezuka."
The schedule was much the same as the one he'd looked at on the kitchen table. The only noticeable differences were the plans for Thursday.
"I made reservations for that restaurant with the ridiculously hot and spicy curry," Tezuka said as began signing some forms he was supposed to have filled out earlier.
Before Fuji could say anything, Tezuka continued speaking. "There's a new greenhouse that specialises in cacti a few blocks away."
"I see," Fuji said as he watched Tezuka read his paperwork.
Shifting slightly in his seat, Tezuka flipped to the next page before casually adding, "I packed your tennis racquets with mine."
"Ah, and the occasion?" Fuji asked, slightly confused but pleased regardless. He could barely remember the last time they had had time to play a match against each other. It had been two months at the very least.
Tezuka looked at him sharply before replying, "Kikumaru informed me that tenth birthdays are special and a celebration is required."
Smiling genuinely, Fuji nodded in agreement. "Tell me about the person you're playing."
Reaching down, Tezuka retrieved the player and turned it back on. Fuji rested his head on Tezuka's shoulder and watched the man that Tezuka was going to utterly defeat on the court.